


The Fall

by OceanTheSoulRebel



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 00:48:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14225496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceanTheSoulRebel/pseuds/OceanTheSoulRebel
Summary: The Seeker takes a tumble.





	The Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Written for DA Drunk Writing Circle on March 30th. Superfluouskeys asked: "DWC! How about "Dizzying heights and free-falling stomachs" Something with Cassandra perhaps? Or whoever you're feeling!"
> 
> Related/sequel to "Falling"

Cassandra was strong. It was something she’d built her life, her career, around. She was a mighty warrior, confident, steadfast.

And terribly, terribly afraid.

Her body screamed at her, and her arm had devolved into a bloody mass of fire that threatened to take over her mind. She could hear the small yells that tore from her throat as she was buffeted against the mountain face. Cassandra had been in pain - lots of it, and often - but it was all she could do to keep herself from falling down and dashing herself against the faraway rocks.

“Don’t look down, Seeker!” Varric called to her, panic clear in his voice even over the rough winds. “Focus on me and it’ll all be alright.”

Her foot fell from the craggy outcrop she used as a toehold. “Ah!” Fire licked up her arm and into her ribs once more.

“Cassandra!”

“I am… I am okay,” she called weakly. Her stomach roiled. The wind whipped at her, plunging icy fingers through the layers and creases of her armor. Cassandra tightened her fingers around the thin branch and closed her eyes. “Please, please hurry.”

“Where are we on the rope?”

She could barely hear the response. Cassandra prayed. Prayed that her friends could reach her in time. Prayed that the meager shrub didn’t give out under her weight. Prayed that the blood loss from the earlier fight wouldn’t kill her.

Prayed that Varric was right.

 _Focus, Cassandra_ , she told herself, taking a deep, worried breath. Her fingers slid down the slick branch again. “I’m slipping!” she screamed, all attempts at calm dashed against the rocks below her.

She didn’t want now to be her time. There was so much more to do in the world, she had so much work ahead of her. Maker, please, she had so much left–

Varric interrupted her thoughts. “Seeker! Look at me, keep your eyes on me.”

She opened her eyes to see him slowly sliding down the steep cliff face, a rope tied around his middle. He steadily made his way down to her over what felt like hours, descending on hands and knees backwards down the rocks.

“Hold on, Cass, I’ve got you,” he said when he reached her. Varric wrapped the rope around her waist twice before wrapping another loop around himself, tying a swift knot. She watched him tug urgently on the lead that led up the mountain. “We’re secure!”

The rope jerked and hauled them up, and Cassandra could finally get her feet under her again. She and Varric crawled up the steep rock face on hands, knees, and toes until they made it back to the top. She clutched at Varric’s hand as he hauled her over the edge and they collapsed together in a heap.

She couldn’t feel her limbs. Her heart beat erratically in her chest, pounding at the steel cage that was almost her tomb. It wasn’t until he brushed away her tears that she even knew she was crying.

“Hey, I’ve got you, I’ve got you.” His fingers petting over her hair as he murmured the reassuring words to her, and she could hear his own erratic heartbeat thundering in his chest under her ear.

“Varric, I–”

He hushed her, brushing his thumb over her jaw. “It’s okay, Seeker. I’ve got you. You’re safe now. We’re safe. I’ve got you.”

She clutched his shoulders and leaned into him, willing the world to stop spinning as her vision went black.

* * *

Cassandra awoke slowly, painfully, with every muscle of her body screaming and aching at her. She groaned as her eyes adjusted to the light of the lantern in the otherwise dark tent.

“Seeker?”

He must have been sleeping; his voice was rough, rumbling from his broad chest.

“Don’t move, just… don’t move, Seeker.” Fabric rustled as Varric made his way toward the tent flaps.

She blushed as she realized he had been sleeping in the tent with her. “Varr–” A rattling groan cut her off as her ribs protested her speech, squeezing tightly around her middle.

“She’s awake, I need another potion!”

He came back into her field of vision after a few minutes, a glimmering green potion in hand. Varric unstoppered it and carefully raised it to her lips. She tried to drink it without issue - she was a grown woman, not a child - but his panicked eyes made her sputter and spit as she attempted to swallow the herbaceous liquid.

“It’s gonna be okay, Seeker,” he said. “You took quite a beating with that dragon, but we made it, and then you go off and fall down the damn mountain. You don’t have to be such a dramatic hero, you know.”

She would have laughed if she could, but instead gave him a wan smile. “You called me Cass,” she murmured quietly, slowly, trying not to jostle her aching ribs.

“You have a name that would span hours if I tried to say it all, I was working with the time I had. Got your attention, didn’t it?”

“I liked it.”

He frowned slightly and laid his broad hand across her brow. “Well, you aren’t running a fever but you’re definitely delirious.” Varric leaned back and ran his hand over his jaw. “You’ve probably got some broken ribs, definitely have some major blood loss, and you might have broken your sword arm when you took the dive down the mountain. Add to all that your crazy talk, and you’ve got yourself a right proper near-death experience, Seeker.”

She grimaced at his glib tone. “I see now why you don’t like heights.” A shudder ran through her and she hissed, her hands clenching in the furs of the bedroll. She felt him rustle back into the blankets and rearrange the soft nest around her.

Cassandra could see him stepping his way to the tent flaps again. “Varric, I,” she started, gritting her teeth against another wave of agony. “Please stay.” The words came out more desperate than she’d hoped or intended, and he looked sharply back at her.

“I, ah, I’m gonna get another blanket, if we’ve got any, and let the others know you’re gonna be okay. But sure, I’ll stay. I’ll be right here, Seeker. I’m not going anywhere.”

She nodded and closed her eyes again, listening as his footsteps took him from the tent.


End file.
